At 78, “Shakey” is showing no signs of slowing down, although he seems more comfortable with looking back. Recorded over the course of four shows on his recent Coastal Tour, Before and After is a live album with a difference: 13 songs from throughout Young’s career are performed, without audience noise, in a continuous 48-minute sequence. The acoustic-based selections cover seven decades and are mostly lesser known, although the minimal instrumentation and similar themes, such as the passage of time and a changing world, mean they complement each other well.
The structure is well-suited for the song I’m the Ocean: it was initially recorded with the band Pearl Jam for their 1995 album Mirror Ball, but removing the electric guitars exposes its true beauty. One interesting track is If You Got Love, which was recorded for Neil Young’s 1982 electronic album Trans but ultimately left off. The gentle melody translates perfectly to a pump organ and occasional harmonica. In other songs, the piano playing on My Heart and A Dream That Can Last is remarkably delicate and fragile. Burned (“there’s no point in running away, and there’s not much time to stay”) has a different energy when sung by a seventy-year-old compared to when Young first recorded it with Buffalo Springfield in 1966, and the environmental message in Mother Earth is still relevant today. There is a special sense of intimacy and vulnerability in songs like When I Hold You in My Arms, and though Young’s voice may have lost some of its youthful power, it has gained tenderness, nuance, humanity, and warmth.
Source: theguardian.com
